Tuesday, September 28, 2010

MBATour Experience - International Applicants Getting job in US is becoming difficult

After lot of confusions i finally attended the mbatour in mumbai on 25th Sep. This was first visit to an mba fair and second trip to mumbai. First trip to mumbai was for SPJain interview

I put my journey experience here http://amarnaik.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/namma-chennai-to-amchi-mumbai/

Reached an hour late to the fair. After completing all the checking formalities of taj hotel i was in the main hall where the reception of mba tour was giving id cards to all the participants. it was a big crowd and all the auditoriums were full packed for all the session.


i attended the mba sessions of cornell and HEC

cornell
-she talked about the programs offered by the school
-cornell discourages students with previous mba apply until they have exceptional reason to do so. for instance different specialisation etc
-she mentioned that getting job is getting tough for international students. but still stdudents are getting jobs.each student should have Plan B
-they have immersion with practical. this is not same as internsip but it gives an option to network with companies
-in 2nd year you can take one specialisation outside cornell school
-located outside NY state and hence affordable cost of living

HEC Paris
there average has increased to 690.there have 2 intakes in a year.
talked to Pierrette DOZ-PERDRIX. not encouraging for my profile as their average is 690
if anybody gets admitted to HEC and has some time remaining before joining then it is advisable to complete the basic french course


i talked to some other schools during the fair

Hult Business school
they were pretty much impressed my profile and score. i was surprised...
they have scheduled a discussion next week with me

London Business school
they told me that with my score it will be tough to get in..took their brochure and just walked

Queens Business school
this school does not have a application fee..researching more on this school now

IE business school
the adcom was telling that 650 with a work ex should be ideal to apply. When i told her about the response that i got from the adcom by email she backtracked and told me that it might be because my resume was not strong. i told her that i never sent my resume. so she asked me to resend my resume


The Chinese University of Hong Kong
the adcom from this school was taking more time and explaining in detail abt his school. saw a wharton admitted student talking to the adcom if he an try to broker a student exchange program.not sure what happened next..
this school does not get much visiting from other schools rather they get people from industry to teach.
batch size is 90. 11 indian students joined the last batch



other schools i was not much interested.there was some thing in my mind which was saying do not compromise on schools .took the brochure of lot of schools and came home :)

mbatour scholarship:once u get an admit to a school that u have visited in the fair,the school can recommend ur name for this scholarship

if u guys need any information email me..i will be happy to help

Sunday, September 26, 2010

The XAT and XLRI Jamshedpur Ready Reckoner

The notification for the Xavier’s Aptitude Test (XAT) conducted by the Xavier’s Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur is out on their website. The XAT will be conducted on the January 2, 2011. Here is a ready reckoner with answers to Frequently Asked Questions and also, a few tips from people who had cracked the exam last year.

Do I need to register for XAT and XLRI seperately?

Yes, XAT is only an exam which many institutes use for their admission processes. You have to apply separately to these institutes. You can apply to XLRI Jamshedpur’s School of Business and Human Resources after you have registered for XAT using the same ID and password. The procedure for applying to other b-schools that use the XAT score such as XIM Bhubhaneswar, GIM Goa or LIBA Chennai will be given on their websites.

What are the eligibility criteria for appearing for the XAT and applying to XLRI Jamshedpur?

The XAT system treats the exam separately from the institutes. So while you can sit for the XAT as long as you have a bachelors degree (even if you have less than 50% aggregate marks), the institutes that use the XAT have their own individual eligibility criteria.

According to the FAQ section on the XLRI website, all you need is a bachelors degree from a recognized or a deemed university. There is no lower cap on the graduation score which means that even if you have less than 50% in graduation, you are still eligible to apply to XLRI.

If you are in your final year of your graduation, you need to complete your final year examination by June 10, 2011.

Other XAT institutes such as XIM Bhubhaneswar, GIM Goa, etc may have other eligibility criteria, which they would make public on their websites.

The XAT registration process is clearly defined on the XAT website.

What are the various programmes offered by XLRI?

a) The Business Management (120 seats) – close to a general MBA offered by most b-schools

b) The Human Resources Management (120 seats) – formerly known as PM & IR, and is an MBA with HR focus.

c) General Management Programme – XLRI’s one-year executive MBA offering for candidates with higher work experience.

d) Fellow Programme in Management – doctoral programme in management.

Are there any seat reservations in XLRI?

No, there aren’t any reservations at XLRI.

What is the format of the test and what were the sectional cutoffs previously?

XAT is one of the most unpredictable entrance tests around. One can never really predict the pattern of the paper or the scheme of negative marking. However, we can look at the XATs of the last two years to broadly understand what it is about.

Also, XAT is still a paper-pencil based test. So while your mocks for the CAT are on the computer, you also need to form a strategy and practice for the paper-pencil format if you are serious about the XAT.

XAT 2009

The test was of two-hours duration followed by an essay for 20 minutes. The topic for the essay — given on the spot — was “The Inherent vice of Capitalism is unequal sharing of blessings and the inherent virtue of Socialism is equal sharing of misery.”
Section Number of questions
Verbal and Logical Ability 35
Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability 38
Analytical Reasoning and Decision Making 31
Total 104

The negative marking scheme was progressive and very different from any other exam. In each section, 0.25 marks were deducted for the first five wrong answers and for every subsequent wrong answer 0.5 marks were deducted.

The overall cutoff for XLRI’s Business Management Programme was 98.03 percentile and for Personnel Management and Industrial Relations (Now known as Human Resources Management) it was 95 percentile.

The sectional cut-offs:

PM & IR: 92.69 percentile in Verbal and Logical Ability, 84.58 percentile in Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability, 80.13 percentile in Analytical Reasoning and Decision Making.

BM: 90.03 percentile in Verbal and Logical Ability, 94.9 percentile in Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability, 90.21 percentile in Analytical Reasoning and Decision Making.

XAT 2010

The test was of 2 hours duration followed by an essay for 20 minutes. The topic for the essay was “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed.”
Section Number of questions
Verbal and Logical Ability 31
Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability 40
Analytical Reasoning and Decision Making 30
Total 101

The negative marking scheme changed compared to XAT 2009. In each section, 0.2 marks deducted for the first six incorrect answers and for every wrong answer after that, 0.25 marks were deducted.

For Personnel Management and Industrial Relations Programme, XLRI had shortlisted around 650 applicants having more than 92.60 percentile in VA, 80.36 percentile in QA, 84.36 percentile in RA, and overall 95.03 percentile for the Group Discussion and Personal Interview stage.

For Business Management Programme, the institute shortlisted around 550 applicants having more than 90.13 percentile in VA, 91.31 percentile in QA, 90.01 percentile in RA, and overall 98.02 percentile for the Personal Interview.

XLRI has provided the XAT 2010 paper for download here.

I had a chat with Pranshu Dwivedi, Jaideep Juneja (both XLRI BM Batch of 2010-12), Kunal Malik (XLRI PM&IR Batch of 2010-12) and Nishant Choudhury (who had converted his XLRI calls but chose to join IIM Calcutta Batch of 2010-12) to learn from their experiences of cracking the XAT. Excerpts from the chats:

What additional preparation do I need to do for XAT apart from what I am doing for CAT?

Kunal says, “You would primarily be taking computer-based mocks while preparing for CAT. It is important that you keep practicing the paper-based mocks as well. XAT is slightly tougher compared to the CAT so you need a deeper understanding of the topics, especially Quant. There is a separate section on Decision Making which is something unique to XAT wherein you are provided with caselets based on which questions are asked. These are pretty subjective and practicing these questions from previous XAT papers is a must. Other than this, by and large, the base of the preparation remains the same.”

According to Jaideep, “Actually for XAT, the CAT preparation should suffice. Just make sure that during the time between CAT and XAT you solve the previous years XAT papers and take 2-3 mock XATs provided by Career Launcher or T.I.M.E. as the major difference is in the decision making sets. Solving them before the D-day would boost your confidence. These sets are very scoring and can make a difference. Also a slight modification would be needed as far as time management is concerned as XAT is of shorter duration (2 hours).”

What sections should one focus on?

According to Jaideep: “In XAT, the Verbal section is more analytical, has more focus on critical reasoning, so concentrate on that. Maths is tough (at least I found it so), so focus on accuracy and as I said earlier, try doing sets on decision making. In XAT 2010, Logical Reasoning sets were tough and a large number of students survived only on the basis of these sets.”

Kunal says, “As I said, you need to focus on the ‘Reasoning & Decision making ability’ section. Since the past few years XAT hasn’t had a separate Data Interpretation section. It has been clubbed with Quantitative Ability. There is a lot of focus on Analytical Reasoning and practicing such questions beforehand would come in handy. You can never guess what XAT throws at you as was observed last year with questions on Facts, Inference & Judgement and Analogies in the Verbal Ability Section. So keep your ends covered.”

How does one think about attempts and accuracy given the progressive negative marking?

According to Pranshu, “Accuracy is very important because if you get too many wrong answers, the progressive negative marking will penalize you really bad.”

Kunal puts forth a different point of view: “In my opinion there is a lot of unnecessary hoo-hah about progressive negative marking in XAT. Just keep your mind off it and attempt the questions that you know and leave the ones that you don’t. Even in the Verbal Ability section, if you are reasonably sure of the answer, just go ahead and mark it. Last year, XAT had minus 0.20 for first six incorrect and minus 0.25 thereafter which in all fairness shouldn’t scare the candidate who anyway faces a minus one-fourth of the marks per question (akin to minus 0.25) for incorrect answers in most of the other exams.”

According to Jaideep, one should focus on one’s strengths and improvise during the exam, “Attempts vary from year to year but in 2010 XAT, I did 12 questions in maths out of 40 (11 correct, 1 wrong, 95.xx percentile), In Analytical Reasoning and Decision Making also I had one wrong and in VA I attempted all and had 4 or 5 wrong. I would suggest you attempt as many as possible in VA and focus on accuracy mainly in QA as that section is generally tough. In Analytical Reasoning and Decision Making, try taking up sets which look easy. If you are unable to solve anything in 4-5 minutes move on to the next set. And do try and attempt a decision making set as they are easy and less time consuming. But don’t attempt questions blindly in VA, if you are weak in that section then choose a few comprehensions and critical reasoning sets and solve them properly. Vocab questions are easy. XAT VA is more about application then about cramming. Application of words is asked rather than tough words.”

Is good knowledge of higher maths or vocabulary necessary to get a good score?

According to Jaideep, “A high proficiency in vocabulary is NOT AT ALL needed. you can easily scrape through with an average vocabulary. And there are a large no of questions in QA and very few among them are based on higher maths. You can always leave them. But if you have the time, try doing probability and get clear on the concepts of maxima and minima and this should suffice.”

According to Pranshu, “Higher maths is not a concern because there are plenty of questions to choose from. However you might do a little better if you were good at higher maths. But there is no point in wasting time in learning higher maths from scratch. A good overall verbal ability skill is useful but not vocabulary.”

Decision making caselets vs Analytical Reasoning caselets. Which ones make better sense to attempt?

According to Nishant, “I for one did very well in the Decision making sets. You can approach them like you would approach Reading Comprehension passages. The only additional thing that you must keep in mind is that ‘Ethics’ is important. Please refer to the book, ’101 Ethical Dilemmas’ by Martin Cohen. Two questions were based on problems from that book. Moreover, it will give you an idea about the approach you should take to solve decision-making problems.”

According to Kunal, “It depends on what you are comfortable with. I always preferred Analytical Reasoning caselets as I was pretty comfortable with those. The thing about AR is that once you have worked out the solution you can answer three to four questions straight away. But still, both types of caselets have easy and tough questions. You have to find the easy ones and attempt those. Also, it becomes tough to work out AR when you are running out of time. So if time is less, go for Decision Making questions first.”

Jaideep recollects his XAT experience and says, “Decision making sets can always be very scoring but there are chances that what you think is the correct answer may not be the same as what the exam setter thinks is right. But the best thing about these sets is that it will hardly take you 2-3 minutes to scan through them and then there are some questions which are very direct. Hence these questions can act as bonuses. If you are very strong at Reasoning then go for those sets only and try and get them all correct. But last year Reasoning Sets were tough and Decision making sets provided some relief. So I would definitely suggest you to go in for at least one decision making set and try and do the straight forward questions. Do at least one set which has 4-5 questions attached to it. It may take time but it would be highly rewarding, I messed up this bit and spent around 25 minutes solving one set! But when I was sure it was all correct, my confidence skyrocketed and I managed to do two more reasoning sets and one decision making set and ended up with a 97.xx percentile in Analytical Reasoning and Decision Making. Hence aim for one decision making set, one big set and a couple of smaller sets with 2-3 questions. Try doing the questions with smaller statements and the questions where conditions are given point wise. These questions become clear more easily than the sets in which conditions are hidden in the paragraphs.”

How important is the essay in the overall process and what sources could one use to prepare for it?

Jaideep says, “I don’t think anyone actually knows how important the essay actually is. In my BM interview my essay was nowhere in sight while in my PM&IR interview it was present in front of the panel. Make sure that you go through the daily newspapers as not only would it help you in the essay but also in the interviews. Also try looking up at the essays of previous years. I think this would suffice.”

According to Kunal, “The truth is that nobody knows. I am not aware of the admission procedure of other b-schools under XAT but XLRI only looks at the XAT score while sending interview calls. But the essay does have some weightage in the final selection. There were candidates who were asked questions based on their essay in the interview and there were candidates who weren’t. I didn’t do any specific preparation for the essay. Reading newspapers and being aware of the current happenings should be enough. You don’t need to use flashy vocabulary. Just put your thoughts in plain English and structure them in a proper manner.”

According to Nishant, “The essay is not used for issuing interview calls. But, it may be used by the panel during the interview. I have a sense that even though no questions may directly be asked from the essay you have written, they will definitely read it to form an opinion about you.”

Pranshu says, “The essay can be anything from absolutely unimportant to really crucial depending on the panel of interviewees and your content in it. If you write something outrageous or something really noteworthy it may be brought up in the interview. Moreover the essay is evaluated only after you get a call.”

Any final thoughts, gentlemen?

Jaideep says, “Don’t panic in the exam as unlike the CAT, the XAT is of shorter duration and is tougher. Time management has a lot of importance and panicking if the exam is tough would only hamper your chances of getting through. If you have prepared well enough for CAT, XAT shouldn’t be a tough nut to crack. And all you engineers, don’t put your ego at stake while solving Quant. I spent a bit too much time on DI and was left with only 30 minutes for QA (I was weak at it). But somehow I chanced upon the easy questions and managed to clear the cutoffs. The key is to attempt the right questions and not waste time on the solvable but time-consuming questions.”

According to Pranshu, “Just carry on with your normal preparation. XAT is the easiest exam to crack if you can keep your nerves. I personally attempted only 51 questions on a total of 101 as far as I remember and managed a 99.95 percentile with a very good accuracy. So just pick the right questions and keep your cool. All the best.”

Kunal says, “XAT usually marks the end of the MBA entrance season and people generally stop preparing by then. I’d say, don’t lose focus after CAT. Keep up the spirits and keep fighting. You never know what entrance exam actually ends up taking you to the other side. All the best.”

Source:http://www.pagalguy.com/2010/09/the-xat-and-xlri-jamshedpur-ready-reckoner/

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Entrepreneurs, do you have that Next Big Idea?

Source:http://getahead.rediff.com/report/2010/sep/23/career-iim-bangalore-cell-starts-business-plan-contest.htm

Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), at the India [ Images ]n Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB) has announced the launch of Next Big Idea, a business plan competition. It is sponsored by the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) under the aegis of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and Intel.

"The process of taking the ideas to the next level and ultimately commercialisation, can be accelerated through provision of knowledge, expertise and policy support. This industry, academia and government partnership aims to provide precisely that under the Next Big Idea programme," said Harkesh Kumar Mittal, advisor and member secretary, National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.

Next Big Idea aims to encourage innovation, create structure and process for the business plan competitions for leading academic institutions across the country so that the innovative ideas born through these competitions are taken forward to become real businesses. It also aims to create a platform where any individual or team can post their innovative ideas and seek mentoring, access to incubation and angel funds to help them create a real business.

"The need of the hour is not just to help speed up venture creation but also nurture the right ideas which have potential to become disruptive businesses of tomorrow. This unique public private partnership under the Next Big Idea programmes will provide potential entrepreneurs not just the opportunity to make their ideas into reality but will also provide them the opportunity to work with the ecosystem to make their future business sustainable," said a Intel spokesperson.

One more objective of this programme is to build capacity in academic institutions that conduct business plan competitions thereby helping in bettering the quality of business ideas originated from there. The capacity building through academic institutions include offering financial support to their competition and conducting a two day fully paid conference at IIM Bangalore to enable sharing of information best practices to conduct competitions.

"Next Big Idea seeks to provide a perfect opportunity for entrepreneurs to showcase their idea and get its attractiveness and viability evaluated by experts in an extremely competitive setting," asserts K Kumar, chairperson, NSRCEL.

The incentives to the 40 winning teams include a chance to be incubated and raise seed fund upto Rs 50 lakh from NSRCEL, one week of fully-paid workshop at IIM-Bangalore with intensive mentoring and an opportunity to interact with VCs; 10 cash prizes in the range of Rs 25,000 to Rs 1,50,000 and a sponsorship to participate in University of California, Berkeley Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge for the top three teams


More details about the competition : http://nextbigidea.in/HomePage.php

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Response from Rotterdam School of Management

Thank you for sending on your current CV.



First of all, please note that this is by no means an official evaluation. It is a brief assessment of your CV to determine your eligibility to apply for our International Full-time MBA Programme and will not be taken into consideration during the evaluation of your application for a final outcome decision.



From your CV, you seem to be eligible to apply for our Full-time MBA Programme. Your academic and professional background reflect some common points with the candidature of our programme. I would advise you to be a bit more elaborate in your CV. We are interested to learn more about the depth and scope of your work experience, professional conduct outside of the core responsibilities of your job profile, the diversity of your work experience etc.



For your convenience I have included some information about our application criteria and procedures for the Full Time International MBA. Apologies if this might duplicate information you received previously, but it is a useful tool to determine your approach to your application.



We use the following criteria to evaluate applications but please note that all applications are evaluated holistically and we treat all aspects equally.

Professional achievements and future goals

A minimum of 3 years of work experience is required. We are interested in your career development to date, the accomplishments you have made and the impact you have made on organisations. We are interested in what professional targets have you set for yourself and how the RSM MBA fits into your career plan.

Academic Excellence

Candidates must have a university degree. We closely examine transcripts of previous study, and in addition all applicants are also required to take the GMAT. Please refer to www.mba.com, for further details about the GMAT examination. We do not have a minimum GMAT score requirement. However, our average score is 650 which should give you a clear idea of the score range that would put you in a competitive position.

Leadership Potential

As all RSM MBA graduates are leaders in their fields, we carefully look at a candidates energy, drive, emotional intelligence, self-confidence and ability to manage uncertainty amongst other leadership characteristics.

International Outlook

Since we emphasize diversity in our International MBA programme, students need to be able to interact and work with people from significantly different cultures and professional backgrounds. It is an advantage if your previous work history includes international scope.

English Proficiency

Our classes are conducted entirely in English. Students are expected to have strong command of the English language. We evaluate your English proficiency during the admissions interview.

Personal Qualities

We prefer to admit applicants who are fun to work with, flexible and have a good sense of humour. We appreciate candidates who are committed to building long-term relationships with fellow classmates and the RSM.

Please ensure that your submitted application is properly completed and include the following documents:

* Non-Refundable Application Fee (€ 100)
* 2 Letters of Recommendation
* Certified Transcript and Diploma/Degree
* Official GMAT Score Report

We do not have a minimum GMAT score requirement. However, our average score is 650 which should give you a clear idea of the score range that would put you in a competitive position



Admissions Interviews

After an initial selection, candidates with strong credentials will be invited for an admissions interview with an alumnus, staff member or faculty member for further evaluation. Motivation, communication and interpersonal skills are assessed during the interview. Final admissions decisions will be made after the interview comments are received and generally, the entire review process will take approximately six weeks following receipt of your completed application package.

I would advise you to open an online application in order to orientate yourself as to the process involved. There is no obligation if you open the application and you can save and go back in at your leisure.You can access the application via the following link: http://apply.embark.com/MBAEdge/RSM/



It is important that you submit your application as soon as you are ready.



I trust that this has sufficiently informed you. Should you have any further questions and/or need any assistance at all, please feel free to contact me (msteenkamp@rsm.nl) or my colleague Bart Scheenaard at (bscheenaard@rsm.nl).



We look forward to receiving your application, Amar!

Monday, September 20, 2010

thanky you Amy - Ivey Student Ambassadors

Congratulations for surviving a GMAT. 640 is a good score. It is true that big consuting and investment banking firms consider GMAT score when hiring MBA students (they are the only industries that do). From what I heard, they aim for around 700.
That said, I am under the impression that if a student is not a native English speaker and did very, very well in the quantitative section, that might be considered too. If you want to, you could retake the GMAT. Admissions only consider you best score so even if it you do not get a better score, it does not matter. Another option is waiting to be in the program and making sure that these are the industries you are targeting. If so, you could retake the GMAT at that point

Saturday, September 18, 2010

GMAT SPLIT SCORE - Brief by Jeff Sackmann

Found a nice article on gmat score splits

Source:http://www.gmathacks.com/cat-strategy/what-is-the-ideal-gmat-split-score.html

Your overall GMAT score--the number between 200 and 800--is generated from a combination of Quantitative and Verbal "scaled scores." The Q and V scaled scores technically range from 20 to 60, though scores near either end are not used.

The numbering system isn't what's important. Instead, focus on percentiles. Often, you'll hear people report their scores this way: "90th percentile on Verbal, 70th percentile on Quant." So, how does the GMAT combine those section scores into the overall number?

To understand how it works, recognize two things: It's relatively rare that test-takers have equal skill levels on the two halves, and business schools (and by extension, the GMAT) value balance.

Because most people are better at one section or the other, students who are equal are rewarded. For instance, someone who scores the coveted "80/80 split"--an 80th percentile score on each of the two sections--will have an overall score of about 700: better than the 90th percentile.

Thus, your overall score is not just the average of your two section scores.

Part of the reason the 80/80 split is so highly valued is that is reflects a broad skillset that most applicants don't have. Many students have tremendous Quant skills but struggle with the language, while others with more liberal arts backgrounds excel at the Verbal but are frightened away by math.

This shows up in the overall GMAT score. While a 70/90 split is an excellent score (regardless of which one is which), it is not quite as good as the 80/80. A 60/99 is still solid as well, but the result is worse than that of the 70/90 split.

The ideal split score, then, is an equal one. If your practice test scores are showing a huge gap between the two section percentiles, your overall score will increase more if you are able to improve on your weaker half of the exam.

ivey - change from IT to consulting

i Had written an email to ivey school student ambassadors asking if change of industry is possible. Below is the response

"Ivey can for sure help you move towards the consuting industry. In fact, very few students who go into the consulting industry following their MBA actually come from a consulting background. A lot of them are from an engineering or IT background, to name a few.
That said, consultancy firms recruit on campus and hold information sessions so you would definitely have the chance to explore the option."

In another post of mine of Ivey school, an ivey alumni said that getting a job with low GMAT score is tough..So i am confused now. I have sent an email to student ambassador to confirm if low score hampers job chances

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Response from Adcom of Johnson School at Cornell University

Thanks for your email. Your GMAT score is in the bottom 10% of our class profile. Our average GMAT of a matriculating student is 700. Only you can make the final decision of whether you will apply; however, if you do, I would highly recommend retaking your GMAT so that your application is as strong and competitive for consideration.

Friday, September 10, 2010

XLRI -GMP-Admissions Notification:

Admissions Notification:

Instructions for Registering Online for BM / HRM / GMP using GMAT score

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE STARTING THE REGISTRATION PROCESS

1. The online registration for BM, HRM and GMP is only applicable for applicants who would be submitting their GMAT Score. If applicants are in India during the year of conducting XAT 2011, it is prefered that they appear for XAT 2011 exam.
2. The GMAT should have been taken between 01 January 2009 and 31 December 2010.

Instructions for NRI/PIO/Foreign Applicant:
3a. The candidate can choose one or maximum of three programmes, depending on eligibility.
3b. The candidate has to send the xerox copy of his/her passport and visa (if applicable) along with the form.
3c. Before starting the online registration, make sure you have a demand draft (DD)/Banker's Cheque (BC) made. The DD/BC of US$ 50( for single programme) OR US$ 75 (for more than one but maximum of three programmes) is to be made in favour of " XLRI Jamshedpur A/c Prospectus " payable at Jamshedpur

Instructions For Indian GMP Applicant:
4a. Indian candidate can apply only for GMP, depending on eligibility.
4b. Before starting the online registration, make sure you have a DD made. The DD of Rs 950.00 is to be made in favour of " XLRI Jamshedpur A/c Prospectus " payable at Jamshedpur.
5. The candidate has to download the XLRI PP GMAT Form after completing the online registration. The candidate has to paste his/her recent passport size colour photograph and put his/her signature in the space provided in the form. The form is then to be sent to Admission Office along with the DD/BC and GMAT Score.
6. The last date for applying online is 8 January 2011 and the last date of receiving the XLRI PP GMAT Form along with DD and GMAT Score is 15 January 2011.
7. The candidates should write "Admissions through GMAT" on the envelopes.
8. Address all communications to Admissions Office, XLRI, Circuit House Area (East), Jamshedpur-831001, Jharkhand, India

Programmes Offered
BM: 2-Year Post Graduate Programme in Business Management
HRM: 2-Year Post Graduate Programme in Human Resource Management
GMP: 1-Year General Management Programme (for working executives only)

Eligibility:
For BM & HRM programmes, candidates who have completed three years of Bachelor's degree or equivalent in any discipline by a recognized appropriate authorities / Association of Indian Universities are eligible to apply.Those completing their final examination by June 10, 2011 may also apply.

For GMP, the candidates must hold a Bachelor's degree of minimum three
years duration in any discipline by a recognized appropriate authorities / Association of Indian Universities. He/She should be employed in a full-time job and must have at least five years of relevant managerial experience as on March 31, 2011 after completion of graduation.
The candidates should ensure that he/she possesses the relevant experience certificate (or evidence of such experience) along with releasing letter at the time of joining the program.

Definition of NRI/PIO/Foreign National
Definition of NRI/PIO/Foreign National as per "Regulation for admission of NRI/Foreign Nationality/Person of Indian Origin", AICTE letter dated 24 April 2002 will be followed for classifying the applicants.
NRI: "NRI" in this context means Non-Resident Indian as defined in Income Tax Act, 1961 with the following clarifications:

An individual is Non-Resident when he is "not a resident" or who is "not ordinarily resident". A person is treated as "not ordinarily resident" when any of the following conditions is satisfied:
1. If he/she has not been resident in India in nine out of ten preceding years; or
2. If he/she has not been in India for a period of 730 days or more during the preceding seven years.

Persons of Indian Origin :"Persons of Indian Origin" (PIO) in this context means a person having foreign citizenship (except Pakistan and Bangladesh) without "NRI" status, but who holds a Foreign Passport at the time of sending application, consideration for admission and during the period of his study and he/she or any one/ both of his/her parents or any one/ both of his /her grand parents is (or was) / are (or were) citizen (s) of India by virtue of the provisions of the Constitution of India or Section 2 (b) of Citizenship Act, 1955 (Act No. 57 of !955).
Foreign National: "Foreign National" (FN) in this context means an individual having citizenship of a foreign country (citizens of all countries other than India) and not having the status of "NRI" and/or "Persons of Indian Origin" (PIO).
Fee:
For BM/HRM: US $15,000 for the first year and US $17,500 for second year
(The fee includes Admission Fee, Tuition Fee, Course Material, Library and other academic activities fee. The boarding expenses are an additional to the above)

For GMP: Fees and other charges for one year General Management Programme (GMP) will be approximately Rs. 14,00,000/- (or equivalent in $ US) for the academic year 2011 - 2012, plus service tax, if any, applicable from time to time. Food, electricity and other personal expenses would be charged extra depending on the type of accommodation preferred by the student.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

14 b-school ‘USPs’ that MBA aspirants don’t care about much

Source:http://www.pagalguy.com/2010/08/14-b-school-usps-that-mba-aspirants-dont-care-about-much/

The following terminology is often used by b-schools to attract aspirants. I will take each one by one and explain why none of them is anything worth boasting about at all.

1. Approvals – of the programme (mostly the AICTE, and at other times the NAAC, UGC, etc). This no longer has any significance as most of the 2,000 odd b-schools with these approvals are the ones sulking the most and possibly are the worst examples of how a b-school shouldn’t be. The only quality AICTE-approved b-schools are the one that have been around for long and will flourish despite or without AICTE approvals.

2. Air-conditioned campus – How does it matter?

3. Well-stocked Library – Isn’t this the bare minimum required facility in any MBA programme? How can it be a unique selling proposition?

4. Free Laptop – Sounds like some kind of a free alarm-clock-cum-radio being offered along with a magazine subscription to attract people to join. Why would someone who is investing Rs six lakh in fees and expenses worry about a laptop worth Rs 20,000? More so, how can this be a salient feature of an MBA programme?

5. 100% Placements, ‘Placement partners’ – A closer look will reveal how much of this is true. Some in the sector speak of horrific stories of how HR departments of companies are paid money by b-schools to get the student an offer for three months and then chuck him out. If this is true, then it’s a big scandal in itself. The important question is – “Do I want to join an Educational institute or a Placement Agency to find me a job?” Moreover, even the top-20 (by any definition) b-schools do not manage 100% placements, so how can these private b-schools even dream of doing so?

6. Additional programmes in SAP, Super-specializations – This is actually laughing-stock material. I mean, there are so many more elective course credits available for students in some of the best b-schools that something like this is hilarious.

7. Hostel facility – What about a hostel is a key feature or a unique selling proposition?

8. Visiting Faculty from XYZ b-schools (usually the IIMs or XLRI) – Which means that the school’s own fulltime faculty strength is either low or nil and therefore academic rigour is absent. Employing visiting faculty is always a way of saving costs for any b-school. Which means that a large part of the fees being charged by them is going straight into their pockets — but certainly not into many professors’ fulltime salary accounts.

9. Hygienic canteen – As if the food in all other campuses is killing aspirants.

10. Wi-fi campus – This is the biggest farce of all. If one belonged to the 1980s, they may say ‘wow’ to that. But the current young generation, which takes technology in daily life for granted, will find this mention amusing.

11. Scholarships – This usually means ‘discount’. It turns education into some kind of a bargainable commodity. This word has been overused and aspirants have no respect for something like this anymore. Most students now consider a b-school advertising scholarships as ‘too desperate’. Moreover, any b-school which treats education as a bargainable commodity is likely to treat it exactly as that when it comes to delivering the goods.

12. International Curriculum – Some even go the lengths of claiming that their curriculum reflects those of Harvard’s or Wharton’s. For the small section of people who are not in the know this might be an attraction, but any MBA aspirant who does even the minimum research, this is a lie. One cannot ever replicate the curriculum of these Universities because the kind of course credits available in those schools and the resultant number of teaching hours require a huge fulltime faculty-strength (upwards of 300) that even the best in India haven’t been able to execute.

13. ‘Ranked X in India’ – There are so many b-school rankings in the country now, that every private b-school has a chance to get into a ‘top’ position in some or the other rankings and still have room for more. So many private b-schools now claim to have a good b-school rank that aspirants have become blind to the word.

14. B-school backed by IIM alumni – Great educational institutions are formed by academics from top universities and not business professionals who have been trained to work in the industry. Moreover, there are all kinds of people graduating from an IIM — some become good managers and some don’t. Without going into the individual credentials of each of the purported IIM alumni backers, this argument is pure rhetoric. In many cases, this IIM alumni promoter is a rich man with lots of spare cash who isn’t averse to making a small side-investment in an educational venture as long as he doesn’t have involve himself in the day-to-day functioning — and in exchange the b-school copiously uses his name for marketing itself.

Several b-schools that form an immaculate marketing campaign around the above often wonder why it is not translating to proportionate application form sales or enquiries. As the academic-session date draws closer, these b-schools then have to buy contact number databases of MBA aspirants from various sources and fill up their seats after a large-scale telemarketing exercise. That does get them students, but never the good quality students that will get these b-schools anywhere near a long-lasting reputation

Discussions with EPGP(IIMB) Student

The person with whom i talked has 10 years banking experience. He was aiming only at IIMA one year program but then later decided to apply to IIMB. His main reason for preferring IIM one year programs is that candidates in this programs have substantial work ex(>6)

GENERAL INFO
1.Avg of present students is around 10.5 years
2.there are some student with 640. One of them has a literature background and another is defense person
3.15-20% of students are on sabbatical
4.there is a comprehensive work project where students can work on live projects

ELECTIVES
Here sometimes the are combined with 2 years program student(PGP). But one year get less time to spend. for instance PGP student get 10 weeks whereas as EPGP will only get 5 weeks.

Career growth(Diagonally opposite)
if EPGP students want to change their profile then they will have to compromise their work experience. for instance a guy with 8-9 years work ex will have to compromise 5 years to get into consultancy industries

More details about this program can be found @ http://www.epgp.in/

Monday, September 6, 2010

Disaster Recipe Scores

Veritas:
Scaled Quant:38,Verbal=22
wrong Quant:10,verbal:19
Learnings:
silly mistakes in quants inspite of knowing the concept
sc - could not find error in original sentence still picked another option which is more correct. A is the best in such a case
rc-focus and read

Princeton
GMAT CAT 1 with AWA
Verbal: 31
Math: 44
Total: 610
Wrong
quant:7
verbal:13
Quant - good
do not assume integer unless it is said so
Verbal - had seen some Q previously in forums. overall the score is bad
silly mistakes in CR due to oversight. Read all A properly


Kaplan test CAT : 560
Quant
wrong:14(7 Q oversight error, remaining Q learnt new concepts)
Verbal
Wrong:19(learnt concepts, CR and RC done oversight errors in 5 Q)


MGMAT
TYPE SCORE ESTIMATED PERCENTILE RANK
Quantitative 46 79 %
Verbal 33 69 %
Total 650 84 %

Quant
Oversight - 1(calculation),1(exponents)
error due to hurry : DS 3
Q wrong : 14

verbal
Q wrong : 20

4 out of first 7 questions are wrong. focus more time to get initial Q correct
Quant time was short
verbal time was spare


Kaplan test CAT : 560
26 july 2010
Quant
wrong:11
1,1 oversight error
Verbal
Wrong:17


MGMAT

SCORE & OVERVIEW OF RESULTS
TYPE SCORE ESTIMATED PERCENTILE RANK
Quantitative 41 64 %
Verbal 33 69 %
Total 610 73 %

Quant
Wrong:20

verbal
Q wrong : 19


Kaplan test CAT : 550

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Preparations for thembatour

The mbatour will be the final place before i make up my mind on what next.640 with a good profile is not a bad score as per some people. But one student from Ivy business school told me that finding a job with a low score might be difficult. i also heard that for campus of some schools GMAT cutoff is set.

Some people who join 2 year schools take GMAT again to improve the chances. After hearing this i have kind of dropped my plan's of applying to one year programs of IIM(bangalore and lucknow)

One of my friend shared with me the detail of guy who succeeded with a 640 score.check the 640 achievers blog "http://hariformba.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-mba-application-journey-from-gmat.html"

now back to my preparations for the mba tour. I have been reading a lot on what to and what not to ask. The below resources are quite helpful for giving that knowledge

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/08/10/the-mba-tour-before-during-and-after-part-1
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/08/18/the-mba-tour-before-during-after-part-2
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/08/26/the-mba-tour-before-during-after-part-3
http://www.beatthegmat.com/how-to-make-the-most-of-mba-fairs-t65266.html

Below is the list of schools that will be coming to bangalore on 19th Sep
Baruch College of the City University of New York
Brandeis University
University of Minnesota
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Cornell University(Johnson School)
California State University, East Bay
EBS Business School
Emory University
ESMT European School of Management and Technology
Georgetown University
HEC Paris
Hult International Business School
IE Business School
Indiana University
London Business School
McGill University
New York University
Queen's University
Rice University
Thunderbird
University of California Davis
University of California Los Angeles
University of North Carolina
University of Maryland
University of Denver
University of Southern California(Marshall)
College of William and Mary
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
York University - Schulich School of Business

i am focusing on the below schools only based on the FT rankings. it does not mean other schools are bad. But my priority will be to meet representatives of below school first

Participating Business Schools | FT Ranking
University of Minnesota | 75
The Chinese University of Hong Kong | 28
Cornell University(Johnson School) | 36
Emory University |34
Georgetown University |38
HEC Paris |18
Hult International Business School |94
IE Business School |6
Indiana University |57
London Business School |1
McGill University |95
New York University |13
Rice University |44
Thunderbird |67
University of California Davis |80
University of North Carolina |49
University of Maryland |43
University of Southern California(Marshall) | 57
York University - Schulich School of Business | 54

Want to be informed as much i can be from the net before i go to their stalls. This will help me using the best use of less time available due to rush of aspirants.
I am listing down following parameters : Duration,App fee,School Fees,Earning Potential,GMAT score range,Average work experience 

After this i am going to each schools website and exploring the available resources.

Below is another place where bloggers of different schools are present
http://hella.opencoder.org/mba-student-blogs/

As of now that's it. lot of work needs to be done :)

World Executive MBA Tour - One reason is Scholarships for grabs

"World Executive MBA Tour" is another MBA tour which i feel an MBA aspirant should attend. I am also attending http://www.thembatour.com/.


The list of schools that will be visiting in my city is below. You can find other locations details in http://www.topmba.com/mba-tour


Chennai
* Boston University School of Management
* BPP Business School
* Bradford University
* China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)
* Claremont Graduate University, The Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management
* De Paul University, Kellstadt Graduate School of Business
* Drexel University - LeBow College of Business
* ESSEC Business School - Paris
* Florida International University, Chapman Jr. Graduate School of Business
* Georg-Simon-Ohm Management Institute
* George Mason University School of Management
* HKU - The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Business & Economics
* Hult International Business School
* IAE de Paris -Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne -
* IE Business School
* Kent Business School
* Southern Methodist University, Cox School of Business
* Sydney Business School, University of Wollongong.
* Temple University, Fox School of Business
* Thunderbird School of Global Management
* UC Irvine
* UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business
* University of Ottawa
* University of Toronto Joseph L. Rotman School of Management
* Washington University, Olin School of Business

Tour Features
* Find out more about the Executive MBA degree - tailored to fit the schedules and needs of senior managers
* Meet Admissions Officers and Alumni face-to-face in a relaxed environment to discuss MBA choices and career impact
* Attend MBA seminars, panel discussions and MBA master classes given by professors from top business schools*
* $1.6 million of QS Scholarships available for fair visitors!*

I am most interested in the scholarships

Saturday, September 4, 2010

All you need to know about the GMAT

Source:http://getahead.rediff.com/report/2010/aug/26/career-al-about-gmat.htm


If you're planning on studying a management course abroad, chances are you will need to take the GMAT. Here's what you need to know about the test...

The GMAT stands for Graduate Management Admission Test. It is administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and is primarily a multiple-choice test.

The GMAT is required for admission to most US, Canadian and European management schools and many business schools for MBA programmes globally.

It is a standardised test that most MBA programmes use to assess applicants. The test has three main sections -- verbal, quantitative and analytical writing. The test is only available as a computer adaptive test, meaning the test is taken at a computer terminal and questions vary from test to test depending on the test-taker's correct or incorrect answers.

The test can be given all year round with prior registration and depending on the availability of dates.

Test Pattern
The following table represents GMAT test format:



The test begins with the analytical writing assessment (AWA) section. Students need to type their essay on the computer, using a very basic word processor.

Each question must be answered before you can move on to the next question. Further, you cannot return to a question once you go to the next question. The first question will be of medium difficulty. If you answer it correctly, the next question will be a little harder. If you answer it incorrectly, the next question will be a little easier.

Because the GMAT "adapts" to your performance, early questions are more important than later ones. Along with the regular sections student have to appear for the experimental questions as well.

Experimental questions can be in any section and it is not included in the scores. The experimental questions can be standard math, data sufficiency, reading comprehension, arguments, or sentence correction. You won't know which questions are experimental.

Scoring pattern
The four major parts of the test are scored independently. You will receive:

* Verbal score (0 to 60)
* Math score (0 to 60)
* Total score (200 to 800)
* Analytical writing score (0 to 6)

There is no minimum score that students much achieve. The total score is a scaled combination of the verbal and quantitative scaled scores, and thus reflects a student's overall performance on the multiple-choice sections of the test. The AWA score is independent of and has no impact on the total scaled score.

The value of a GMAT score is determined by the percentile ranking assigned to that score. The percentile ranking expresses the percentage of the test-taking population that receives scores below a particular score.

The GMAT does not penalise you for wrong answers, so never leave any question unanswered. With the computer-adaptive test for GMAT, a student cannot return to a question once it has been attempted, so students should be very sure of their answer before proceeding. It is essential that students pace themselves properly and be very certain of their answers.

Universities require the official score to be sent by students for the admission process. The official scores are sent to five universities that a student needs to select on the day of the exam. If students want to send the scores to more than five universities they need to order for additional scores which costs $28 (Rs 1,300 approx) per university. The universities will receive the scores in 20 calendar days. Students may request for additional scores online.

Exam preparation
There are various reference books and notes available for students to prepare. Generally the time needed for preparing for the GMAT is 2 to 6 months, depending on individual abilities. Practice is essential and there are a number of training institutes that offer mock tests before the exam, by which students can work on areas they are weak in.

Some students retake the exam to try and maximise their scores. In such a case, many business schools may consider the higher score or average of the scores.

Registration
Students can register for the test online at www.mba.com/mba. The other ways for registration are by phone, mail or fax.

Students will incur taxes to schedule an exam in certain countries. The details of the same is given on the site while going through the registration formalities. Students need to locate the nearest testing centre and check for the available time slot for the exam and book the same.

Online registration
If student chooses to schedule a test online, they must sign up as a registered user of the mba.com website. Students should be careful while entering the required basic details like name and birth date; these should be exactly as they appear on the identification they will carry at the time of the test at the test centre.

The current GMAT exam fee is $250 (Rs 11,600 approx) the payments can only be made by credit card or debit card.

Rescheduling
Students need to log in online with their account details to reschedule their exam date. If a student want to reschedule their appointment in a country other than the one in which they have scheduled their original appointment, they have to do it by phone.

There is a $50 fee charged to reschedule the date, time, or location of the test. Students should reschedule the date before seven calendar days or else they will have to pay the full registration fees.

Cancellation
If a student cancels his/her test appointment at least seven full calendar days in advance of the date and time of their test date, they will receive a partial refund of $80 (Rs 3,700 approx).

If they do not cancel their appointment within seven full calendar days of the scheduled test date and time, they will have to forfeit the entire registration fee.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Cranfield School of Management - informal assessment

Dear Amar

Thank you for completing the informal assessment form.

From the information provided, I regret that it is unlikely you would be selected for interview with your current GMAT result.

We receive a number of applications from high calibre candidates with similar qualifications and experience who have GMAT scores in excess of our current average of 670, so it is often the GMAT that is the deciding factor when short listing people for interview.

Competition for places is very high and we are only able to offer interviews to a limited number of candidates applying to us.

Thank you for your interest in Cranfield.

Kind regards,

Admissions Executive
Cranfield School of Management

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

MBA Schools- Operations Management

I was helping one of my friends who is interested in getting an MBA in selecting schools. I am sharing the same info here

In india schools such as
Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai,
SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai
Symbiosis MBA in Operations Management at SIOM
Indian Institute of Management to name a few offer MBA in Operation Management.


http://businessmajors.about.com/od/topbusinessschools/tp/TopOpMgtSchools.htm

Top 5 US MBA Schools- Operations Management

1. Tepper (Carnegie Mellon)
The Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon consistently ranks among the top business schools in the world. The programs offered at Tepper place a strong emphasis on general management, but Tepper is also known for a wide range of specializations, including Finance, Entrepreneurship, Operations Management, and Information Technology.

2. MIT Sloan
The world-renowned curriculum at MIT Sloan is a balance between theory and real-world application. Programs include cases studies, lectures, team projects, industry interactions, and hands-on labs to teach students the business skills that they will need to succeed in the future.

3. Ross (University of Michigan)
The Stephen M. Ross School of Business offers a wide range of curriculum along with advanced elective courses. They also boast an exciting leadership program that allows students to engage with professors and experts in a variety of important fields.

4. Tuck (Dartmouth)
Famous for their small class size and close-knit community, Tuck is one of the most selective and prestigious business schools within the U.S.

5. Kellogg
Most well known for their ever evolving curriculum, Kellogg School of Management (Northwest University) keeps pace with the ever-changing business world and has introduced more than 50 new courses since 1995.

Free GMAT Test on Labor Day, September 6th and more

If any of you want to practice another gmat test then gmat club tests are available free on Labor Day, September 6th
Access will be available from 0:01 AM on Monday morning to 23:59 on Monday night, Pacific Time (USA)

More details you can find in the below link
http://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-club-tests-free-open-access-88231.html

I have set up a reminder in my google calendar for the next gmatclub tests on
# Halloween 10/31
# Thanksgiving 11/25
# GMAT Club Birthday 12/4
# Christmas 12/24
# New Year's day 1/1/2011

You too can do the same
All the best with your preparations